A law criminalising the failure to prevent bribery could prove an effective tool in Hong Kong
The UK has shown the way forward with legislation to make companies responsible for the corrupt acts of people who act on their behalf
In its mission statement, the Independent Commission Against Corruption commits itself “to fighting corruption through effective law enforcement, education and prevention”.
Corruption, however, remains a major problem in Hong Kong, with the ICAC’s overall caseload, by the end of 2015, standing at 1,737, much of it business-related, and this has had ramifications.
In Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2015, Hong Kong secured 75 points out of 100. Although Hong Kong’s standing, which is on a par with Japan’s, is well above the rest of China (the mainland was on 37 points, Macau on 51 points, and Taiwan on 62 points), it is still well behind, for example, Denmark (91), the UK (81), and Australia (79), which is a concern for “Asia’s World City”. Hong Kong’s global stature, after all, requires the ICAC to be pre-eminent, and its tools must therefore be state-of-the-art.
The public sector ... is a law unto itself, and the ICAC’s private sector armoury also needs beefing up, which means extending its reach
Reid, who had fixed cases in return for rewards, ultimately pleaded guilty to possessing disproportionate wealth, and was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, later reduced to seven years on appeal. Although the law, which places a reverse onus on a suspect to explain how the wealth was acquired, was challenged on constitutional grounds, the courts have upheld its legality, concluding that it is a necessary response to a grave problem, which might otherwise go unpunished.
The public sector, however, is a law unto itself, and the ICAC’s private sector armoury also needs beefing up, which means extending its reach.